Host Publications is an award-winning, women-led independent publisher located in Austin, Texas. Devoted to our work of elevating systemically marginalized writers, our mission is to publish groundbreaking poetry by women writers, BIPOC writers, LGBTQ+ writers, writers of a lower socio-economic status, immigrant writers and writers with disabilities. 

We want to champion work that is experimental, especially writing that queers language and meaning-making. We want to celebrate writing by survivors, writing that explores alternative and subversive cultural experiences, writing that engages with a poetics of liberation. Send us your strangest, queerest, most tender, riotous writing. Send us work that explores the limits of form, voice, language and style—the full spectrum of what poetry can do. 

Submissions are open to any US-based poet. Though we love and have historically published works in translation, all submissions for this period must be original work written in English.

Submissions from our Spring 2025 period are currently being reviewed and participants will be notified Fall 2025.

Ends on $15.00
$15.00
Submit to Poetry Manuscript Submission 2025

Note from the Host Publications editors and board of directors: 

Every time we open for submissions, we are thrilled by the possibility of discovering a book that surprises us. While we don’t prioritize any particular style of writing, some things we dream of publishing include: collections of intersectional, radical ecopoetics; collections that hybridize poetry with other forms; cinematic poetry; docupoetics, or, collections that explore the archives, the art of lyrical research. 

We are passionate about rebellious poetry that disrupts the narrative of the overculture, that is wayward, misbehaved. But we’re also passionate about writing that comes from a place of tender-heartedness and vulnerability. In our editorial + production process, we take great care with each writer and body of work we have the privilege to publish. Our philosophy as a press is to create space that offers safety and comfort even for the most vulnerable, and to give each book royalty treatment, ensuring that the author’s vision is what shines through. 

Poetry Guidelines

  • All submissions must be original work, previously unpublished as a collection.
  • We are currently looking for full-length poetry collections.
  • Your submission should be between 60-90 pages in length.
  • Paginated, 12 pt. Times New Roman. 
  • Each poem should begin on its own page.
  • Please include a table of contents and a cover page. 
  • Please submit your work as a PDF document.
  • Please only submit work primarily written in English.
  • Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please withdraw your submission if your manuscript has been accepted elsewhere. 
  • The writer must be based in the United States.
  • We do not accept work that has been generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
  • If you submitted your manuscript to Host Publications for consideration last Fall, please wait one more cycle before submitting your work again. This will give us time to sit with other people’s work.
     

Host Publications awards writers with $2,500, 25 author copies, dedicated editorial work from our skilled editors, a book launch in Austin, Texas, and energetic promotion from our staff. We also offer our authors the opportunity to be a guest on our literary podcast, The Host Dispatch.

The best way to know what we’re looking for is to familiarize yourself with our previous publications, which include: 

A limited number of free entries will be available for writers for whom the reading fee presents a financial hardship. Please contact us at editors@hostpublications.com.

We encourage all who submit that familiarize themselves with our most recent publications. You may purchase our titles on our website or through our distributor. 

Submissions will be reviewed and participants will be notified Fall 2025.

Host Publications